We're considering a GPS tracker for our dog, not because we're planning to rely on it in lieu of recall, proper use of a long line etc - bear in mind he's a teenage tearaway - but as a just in case something happens back-up.
The ones that seem to get the best feedback are Tractive and Pawfit, but open to suggestions of others. One option with Pawfit is a version that uses an LTE-M and NB-IoT connection rather than standard mobile network 4G, but I'm not entirely sure what the advantages of this are and whether it's worth considering that over the boggo version.
Any user feedback appreciated.
Thanks.
We've used tractive for about 6 years, literally can't think of a single negative to say about them.
We've got a pit pat and it seems to work fine.
Been using it for nearly a year now after she ran off went missing for a day or so. Its a one off payment and doesn't need a contract. Fixed unit so battery not removable but they say the battery will last for 5 or so years like a phone battery. Still charges and holds charge well. Can also be used abroad.
Its GPS and just piggy backs off what ever phone signal is around I think.
Oddly, the Army parachute display team (Red Devils) use a dog tracking thing called PitPat to track their parachutists in case they get blown off course. They started using it after a RAF parachutist went missing for a few days after a failed chute incident.
We use tractive and I'm not that impressed. They've proven quite unreliable and tractive aren't interested in warranty so we've been trapped in a cycle of either having a working tracker when the sun expires, or having sub left when tracker dies. Feels like hotdogs Vs buns.
On the rare occasion I've had to fire up live tracking, she's come back before it's found signal.
Thanks for the input. Pitpat gets quite poor feedback on the GWP UK FB group, which kind of puts me off despite the allure of a one-off package. Tractive and Pawfit both seem to get quite good reviews there.
What was your issue with your Tractive @Onzadog ?
Pawfit here. I like it and would buy another, well thought out and reliable, although I've never used the voice thing. Oddly the 'find' beeper functionality became a very effective recall (even better than an actual recall) for our now sadly deceased black lab. UK company - our first one did give up charging eventually after one too many trips into the pond/through the hedge, but was replaced no problem.
Pitpat is tempting due to the perpetual subscription, but I do wonder about the business model.
Tractive do a fantastic job of designing a product that will fail moments after the warranty expires, almost to the day. Not conclusive, it only happened 3 times.
I imagine a lot of their usefulness is related to how good a phone signal there is in the place where the dog has absconded. All these systems are useless when my GSPs go walkabout in the Forest of Dean. Bell and / or dayglo jacket is useful.
Interesting thread.
we use an AirTag on his collar. What am I getting from a dog specific option!
Interesting thread.
we use an AirTag on his collar. What am I getting from a dog specific option!
In an urban setting, probably not much - however, if you’re out in the countryside, where there aren’t many people around with phones to pick up a BT signal, you could find it very difficult to find your lost dog.
A friend of mine has a hotel/restaurant out in the countryside, on the Fosseway the other side of Castle Combe, she has a lovely dog called Alby, who is a truffle hound, and quite a valuable animal. One day he went missing, and she spent ages trying to find him, and it turned out he’d found his way into a near neighbour’s garden, wandered into their garage and they’d shut the door without realising he was in there!
I suggested an AirTag, but she pointed out, quite reasonably, the disadvantage that I’ve mentioned, that without a lot of people around with phones for it to ping from, they’d not be very effective.
I honestly can’t remember what she went for in the end, I know it was one of the better known trackers that can show the location on an OS map. If I think of it later, I’ll message her and ask what make she bought.
Well someone has to say it…
Username checks out.
Tbf, it predates the dog, however I realise, I very much chose a mutt that rolls in a similar way to me. Really though, we just want it as a failsafe back-up rather than because his wiring's flawed. We're hammering recall training and whistle sits and he's still on a long line anywhere remotely insecure, it's just that very occasionally stuff happens - a meteorite falls on your long line or your head and the dog's off foot-loose and fancy free. He's a breed with wandering genes too.
Interesting thread.
we use an AirTag on his collar. What am I getting from a dog specific option!
More reliable tracking. For perspective, my partner sometimes bike commutes through Manchester and has an AirTag on her bike, often it'll only register three or four times en route to the office, which is kind of hopeless if you're trying to track down a dog in real time. I get that you're very much dependent on mobile network coverage with a GPS tracker and in some areas - central Peak - it's patchy, but locally at least it's pretty good.
The other thing, if it bothers you, is that you can also use quite a few of the GPS trackers for health monitoring - HR etc - though I'm not bothered about that and he rarely wears a collar indoors and definitely not when crated.
Well someone has to say it…
Username checks out.
Tbf, it predates the dog, however I realise, I very much chose a mutt that rolls in a similar way to me. Really though, we just want it as a failsafe back-up rather than because his wiring's flawed. We're hammering recall training and whistle sits and he's still on a long line anywhere remotely insecure, it's just that very occasionally stuff happens - a meteorite falls on your long line or your head and the dog's off foot-loose and fancy free. He's a breed with wandering genes too.
This is making me think too. My dog's brilliant at recall, he's half border collie so is more interested in shepherding us than running off, especially when we're out on bikes, but he hates fireworks. The only two times he's ever run off and not come back have been early November when he's been spooked. Both times I've searched for ages, shouting for him and jangling my keys (the sound's distinctive and non-triggering, apparently), only to eventually find him sitting on the doorstep when I get home. But if we're somewhere away from home and this happens, I think a tracker might be a good idea!
Not for a dog but we have tractive on a couple of cats and moto tags.
The tractive will give us a good location to a couple of feet. However with a cat this could be up a tree or hidden. In both circumstances the sounder on the collar wasnt good enough to find the tracker. The moto puck thing does have a much larger sounder and once in BT range you can use this to listen for the collar. Interestingly the pucs have stopped working and we wont be getting another. They are not accurate enough. Tractive does cost a lot.
We had a Tractive for the first few months until totally confident on recall, never needed to use it in anger but the app had a habit of forgetting login details.
Not sure why tbh but it would be an extra level of stress/frustration if the wammel has gone wandering off...
Pitpat gets quite poor feedback on the GWP UK FB group
What are the issues they mention? Im just interested to see if anything I've come across with ours.
TBF we haven't had to use it in anger since we got it. I did use it once to stalk my wife as shes was walking the dog and I was out on my bike though. I was going to swing by and meet up with them before they went past the pub and I found it better to use the dog location on the pit pat app than use the google map sharing we have for each other....
My mum has a Tractive collar on her idiot Cockapoo that ****s off into the distance fairly regularly. She managed to set it up herself I think so must be reasonably user friendly.
I've never felt the need for one for my hound as she has decent recall and when off lead roaming the woods she checks in with us regularly.
What are the issues they mention? Im just interested to see if anything I've come across with ours.
Poor battery life comes up a lot, plus inferior tracking accuracy to Tractive or Pawfit. I guess both are relative to expectations and experience with alternative trackers.
Tractive user here, well… we cancelled the subscription last year because we hadn’t used it for quite a while.
I recognise Onzadog’s experiences - we had 3 in a short space of time, but they were very good at replacing tired ones (but weirdly the replacement would arrive in an envelope with no paperwork/packing note or anything, just a tracker).
In the first few months, it was a fantastic facility for finding a lost tracker, but not so much the dog still attached. I think a combination of them sorting out a different mount and us replacing the harness sorted that.
There were times that switching into ‘live track’ took a long time (satellite coverage?) and then the tracking was intermittent, so it was a bit useless, but then another times it was fine and dead useful. It only uses GPS as far as I’m aware, which is great if you’re out in the wilds, but if you have your phone on you and are using that to track your dog then the weakness is with your mobile provider.
They implemented some kind of whizzy auto-track system that popped it into standby when you were in home WiFi range (to preserve battery I think) but it would fail to detect when it left home WiFi range so not switch back on, so you ended up having a lost dog with a tracker that was switched off and therefore inaccessible (until you found your dog and switched it back on). I left that functionality off but I think it did something to the battery life and I lost count of the number of times we trotted off with flat battery (no use if it was the individual unit, and we could have easily managed that with a bit of thought - simply popping it back on charge after each walk would have sorted it, but we didn’t get our act together well enough)
I have no experience of other trackers, but I can’t help feeling that something that uses a combination of GPS and 4/5G would be more quickly fired up and provide at least some idea quicker than waiting for a GOS connection.
Ill add to the tractive (for cats) You can change the update frequency to improve battery life. This is what you want really and then charge each week overnight. you can then switch to live remotely.
Accuracy is good. The silicone holders work a lot better than the clips.
For perspective, my partner sometimes bike commutes through Manchester and has an AirTag on her bike, often it'll only register three or four times en route to the office,
I think an Airtag relies 100% on being picked up my another phone (by bluetooth?) - it takes a little time for this to happen and if the tag is on a moving object then there may not be enough time for this to happen.
It's similar for a dog running around like a lune.
(If she stops at traffic lights then she's more likely to be 'spotted' 😉)
In case it's useful to anyone else, we ended up with Pawfit 3S - the Tractive XL weighs 90g and is relatively large with it, the 3S is 27g and significantly smaller and seems to do pretty much the same gig. So far, so good. Seems to track accurately, comes with a reassuringly secure mounting system and battery life so far has been good, the app seems fine too.
Fingers crossed we never have to use it for tracking a wandering mutt, but it's reassuring knowing that we have some sort of 'just in case' back-up.